Clematis montana

Clematis 'montana' is the botanical wild species of the mountain clematis; it comes from the Himalaya, China and Tibet, and the other cultivars of the Montana group descend from it. In May and June it opens its 4-5 cm white flowers with four to five broad petals and cream stamens. The leaves often emerge bronze or purple before turning green.

At around 500 cm tall, 'montana' takes over pergolas, trellises, fences and house walls and will even scramble into large, mature trees. It grows in sun to partial shade and accepts any aspect; the soil should be moist but well-drained. Keep the root zone cool and shaded, for example with underplanting or a layer of pebbles. It is not suitable for containers.

'montana' is rated for zone 7 (down to about -17.7 to -12.3 °C) and is therefore robust in winter. Since it flowers on the previous year's wood, it belongs to pruning group 1 and needs no regular pruning; if necessary, cut it back to about 100 cm straight after flowering in June. Plant it with the crown 5-8 cm deep so that it produces new shoots from below ground.